


What Part of "Red Templar Alistair" Implies a Happy Ending?

by CeleritasSagittae



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Body Horror, Broodmothers (Dragon Age), Cannibalism, Choose Your Own Ending, F/M, Horror, Lyrium, One Shot Collection, Red Lyrium, Red Lyrium Alistair, Red Templar Alistair, because why not?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 16:23:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16478936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CeleritasSagittae/pseuds/CeleritasSagittae
Summary: A series of short stories, originally posted on Tumblr, that do pretty much exactly what it says on the tin.Ye have been warned.





	1. Unconscripted

“Mages!” came the Commander’s cry. “You–you have sanction to engage them.”

_We had_ better _,_ Fiona thought, a grim smile on her face as she readied her staff. Too many of her charges had never used their magic for more than the most controlled scenarios, much less an open battle. She would have to show them how it was done.

The templars she fought were unlike anything she had ever seen, and considering what she’d been through in her life, that was saying a great deal. The only saving grace, so far as she could tell, was their willingness to forgo Silencing and Smiting in favor of outright destruction. And if it was destruction they desired, she would only too gladly show them theirs.

Fiona gasped as a shield slammed into her back, sending her flying forward. Muscle memory took over, and she tucked her staff in as she let the momentum roll her over and up into a crouch, letting her rise and face her assailant.

“…Maric?” she whispered, but she knew as she said it that she was wrong–the man (or what was left of him) was too young, and there were other differences, subtle ones…

But the smirk on his lips–take away the callous cruelty, the madness, and underneath she’d find— _No_.

Too late she remembered Duncan’s letter, one of the last ones before he’d fallen to that emissary— _his guardian has decided a Chantry education would suit him well, and promised him to the templars…_

She’d never even asked for his name, had thought it was better that way… better she pretend he’d never existed, better he grow up unburdened by his blood (her blood), better he have a chance at a normal life…

Fiona shook the tears from her eyes and tightened her grip on her staff, reaching deep into the Fade.

Maker take her, what had she done?


	2. Captured! - Introduction

“Thank the Maker,” the Warden mutters when she finally breaks him out of the encampment and he’s little the worse for wear. Alistair just smiles faintly; the song wasn’t really that different from the one he’s heard on and off for the past ten years, certainly much easier to put up with than Corypheus’s false tune. In time, he’s able to block this one out, too, and wonders how one man could manage to be so lucky.

They forget about it over time, as she keeps searching for another lead for a cure, one that’ll bear more fruit in the future…

[[Warden finds cure](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16478936/chapters/38592557)]

[[Warden does not find cure](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16478936/chapters/38592650)]


	3. Captured! - Warden Finds a Cure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Follows directly from [Chapter 2](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16478936/chapters/38592446).

…until one day she does, and this time, they find it together.

“Are you ready to try this, my love?” she asks him.

He lets out a nervous laugh in reply. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

At first, it all seems to work beautifully; a sort of reddish-black mist rises from his body.

Then, in an instant, it all goes _wrong_.

She’d seen the Red Templars, of course, the way the lyrium grew from their bodies… She’d read the Tale of the Champion, even seen Meredith’s statue in the Black Emporium…

It was something like a mix between the two.

With a loud groan, laced with the sound of metal scraping and screeching, his back arched as crystals sprouted from his skin–not red, but _blue_. In a wave of energy, the most powerful _Smite_ she’d ever seen blasted through the room, and she blacked out to his cries of pain.

When she came to, the only thing left of Alistair was a statue of pure blue lyrium, his face frozen in an eternal rictus.

[[Too evil? What if the Warden doesn’t find the cure?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16478936/chapters/38592650)]


	4. Captured! - Warden Does Not Find a Cure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Follows directly from [Chapter 2](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16478936/chapters/38592446)

… until one night, it’s too late.

The transformation is instantaneous, too soon, and Maker help her, she thought they had more _time_.

She jolts awake in the middle of the night, struck with an irresistible feeling that something is very, very _wrong_ …

When she sees the red glow next to her, she _know_ s.

It’s as if he’s on his Calling, but _worse_ , somehow.  His hair is brittle, his skin deathly pale, but instead of black, his veins glow _red_.

“ _Alistair_?” she whispers, half afraid to wake him up, half afraid of what she’ll see.

His eyes open in an unearthly glow, and when he turns to look at her, the red light transfixes her, mesmerizes…

Suddenly he rolls on top of her, pinning her in place, and slants his mouth over hers, kissing her greedily.

 _This isn’t what he’d want_ , she thinks faintly, as a black-red ichor trickles from his mouth down her throat, one that turns her stomach even as the darkest parts of her soul shudder in pleasure…

“Come sing with us, my love,” he murmurs tenderly, in a voice that is at once Alistair’s and _not_ , and tears leak from her eyes.

Swallowing, the Warden reaches for the dagger she always keeps at her bedside, praying that she’ll find it and her courage before she decides to listen.

[[Too evil? What if the Warden finds the cure?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16478936/chapters/38592557)]


	5. Captured! - An Actual Happy Ending

He feeds her as if it were their wedding feast—tender, intimate, selecting only the choicest bits for her.

She accepts his offerings for what they are—pieces of him, nurtured long within his breast until they are worthy of her.

The Song surrounds them, like a lullaby echoing through a mother’s womb, making them one as they’d only dreamt of, even in their heights of passion.

Their ears have been opened, and it is _glorious_.

“I always wanted a family, my love,” he croons in her ear as she licks the crystal growing from his hand.  “Always wanted one with you.”

She sighs as she hums in harmony, turns to nibble the tip of his nose.

He peels off another morsel, proffers it to her lips, and lets her teeth scrape his finger clean.

He feeds her with his flesh, and the Warden _grows_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...What? The characters are happy, right? They're even starting a family together!


End file.
